This week’s photo challenge for the Daily Post asks photographers to show the concept of between whether through objects, people, the actual feeling of feeling torn between decisions etc. Here are a few examples I decided on for the subject of “between” hope you enjoy!

A landscape capture using depth of field to show a tree in the distance between the space in the branches of another tree. The viewer gains more of the surroundings as a result of peering through the space created between the branches.

The love shared between mother and daughter. This bond is eternal and nothing can ever come between them to break this special connection!

I discovered this spider web formed between two tree branches.

Hidden deep between the blades of grass I uncovered this sparkling water droplet resting on a blade of grass. It reflected the light beautifully casting a rainbow colored light on the blade upon which it was sitting. It looked like a jewel resting regally between the vibrant green blades of grass!

This was an interesting addition to the Eiffel Tower when I was in France last month. Hanging between the usually open space was an inflatable tennis ball to advertise the tennis tournament the following week. The inflatable ball was illuminated at night so it could easily be seen from afar.

So there you have it some very different depictions of the challenge of between. What ways can you think you to depict the theme of between?

“I already know what you’re thinking. Who would want a used up, scratched compact with a miniature powdering puff so small. It would take days to apply my cover up! And what do the letters VF on the cover even mean?”

“Well my friends let me recount a little of my history to you and the secrets lying within me, then maybe you’ll come to see that I am in no way ordinary, but in fact extraordinary! That my scratches are part of my charm, and why my cover bears the letters VF upon it.”

“I belonged to a woman named Vera Falvo, those are her initials engraved on my cover. She wasn’t one for fancy, frivolous items which wasted money. For some reason, she was drawn to me upon seeing me in the shop. Back then, my paint was lustrous and the sunlight bounced off my gleaming mirror sending rainbows of color cascading off the surrounding walls. I was quite a stunning sight to behold. The intricate design created on my cover, coupled with the fresh miniature powder puff to apply the powder once contained within were an immediate draw. The additional pocket found on my powder puff was designed for a finger to be slipped inside to apply powder effortlessly! I was quite revolutionary in design for that pre-Depression era.”

“Vera fell in love with me instantly, but being the type of woman who didn’t approve of spending money on herself, she left me at the store, heading home to care for her young children and husband. Money was tight, I was a luxury she could certainly get by without. That night as her family sat around the dinner table, she must have mentioned seeing me in the shop, and her husband must have picked up on the longing in her voice, because the next day I found myself lifted from the display case, carried to the counter by the shop owner, to be shown to a gruff sounding male with blue eyes as bright as the sky. (I knew they matched the sky because I’d seen hints of it from my perch in the shop through the glass storefront window). Then I heard the shopkeeper say,

“Sir if you’d like I could engrave your wife’s initials on the compact’s cover.”

“Why not, she deserves to have something pretty” the blue eyed man responded.

“The next thing I felt was something sharp tearing into my lovely painted cover, but when it stopped I caught a glimpse of myself in the store’s mirror on the countertop and saw I now had the letters VF inscribed on me in beautiful cursive script. Then everything went dark as I was carefully wrapped and packaged.”

“Suddenly my darkness was brightened by the packaging being excitedly torn away and I was staring at the face of the woman who had lovingly held me in her hands, admiring me only a day prior. She gasped with delight at the sight of me, running her fingertips over the newly engraved VF, her initials. Then flung her arms happily around the blue eyed man sitting next to her, watching with pleasure as she unwrapped me.”

“Every day Vera took me out of the box I came in and after inspecting my intricacies, slowly, methodically applied her powder using the specially designed puff. She even put her favorite pink hued lipstick in the lipstick holder that was attached to me and had also been engraved with her initials. Unfortunately, one day all my powder was used up as well as the lipstick. Did Vera discard me like some useless object? No, she kept me out to decorate the surface of her vanity. One day I felt myself lifted up, and carried off to another part of the house. I thought this was it for me, she was going to shove me in a drawer somewhere since I had outlived my purpose. Suddenly, I felt my little powder puff removed as I was laid on a table. Then Vera placed something in the finger pocket of the powder puff, replaced the puff, closed me up, and returned me to my original place on the vanity. What she placed in the pocket of my powder puff let me know she would always treasure me as special to her. I breathed a sigh of relief, and set about watching the decades pass from my perch on the vanity. What was it she placed in my pocket you want to know? Look below in the final picture to see.”

All words when broken apart are a bunch of individual letters that when separated don’t deliver any type of impact, but when strung together, create excerpts that can resonate with the reader long after they have read a particular piece of writing! That is the magic within letters. They can unite to create a poignant piece of poetry, or a riveting edge of your seat thriller of a story. Letters combined into words can elicit immense emotional responses from an individual coupled with the tone and the manner in which one delivers them. These tiny insignificant letters are not insignificant at all! When presented in sentences such as, “Will you marry me?” They cause a euphoric reaction within an individual. They can cause intense pain when presented in sentences such as “You are fired!” Letters are powerful when united into words. Be sure to use yours wisely!

As a previous kindergarten teacher, I had the pleasure of introducing children to the magic created when combining letters to form words. This initial introduction for children to the concept of taking individual letters to create words, and from there form sentences, paragraphs, stories, and so on, is essential. Teachers are entrusted with the task of educating tomorrow’s leaders. The elementary process of connecting letter sounds together to formulate words may be something many people have long since forgotten about because it is practically innate in us. These new learners however must be enlightened to the secrets behind creating words using 26 letters. Their journey to incorporating letters into words has just commenced!

If you ever enter a kindergarten classroom you will see the alphabet prominently displayed for these eager new minds. Additional posters on how to correctly print these letters, along with cute eye-catching pictures depicting characters whose names begin with each letter of the alphabet to help students make the letter-sound connection, are seen gracing the walls of the classroom. Last year, courtesy of Pinterest, my colleagues and I took the letter craze one step further. We built crate seats for the work centers and found fabric depicting the letters of the alphabet to cover the seats with. This is what you see pictured above. The students now had another additional reminder of letters whenever they went to work centers! Letters may seem small and unimportant when encountered individually, but together their importance and strength comprises endless possibilities! Letters are small but mighty!

Spring is my absolute favorite season! The world is renewed and reborn awaking from its long winter nap. The colors seen bursting forth from the various different flowers carpet the Earth in a rainbow of colors! The grass takes on a lush, vibrant green hue and songbirds sing sweetly. Beautiful elements of nature are found at ever turn.

The flowers are my favorite thing about spring. The magnificence seen through their brilliant colors and varying shapes is stunning to witness! The singular beauty found in an emerging blossom is breathtaking!

Spring makes us grateful for each vividly hued petal, the feel of cool grass under our toes, and the realization that another segment in the cycle of nature has begun!

A smile is the one universal understood all throughout the world. It symbolizes the same meaning in any language, breaking down barriers and thawing out the chilliest personalities. Smiles are meant to be shared and can be quite infectious. They spread like wildfire throughout a roomful of people!

However every one of us has days when we are down in the dumps and just can’t fathom the ability to muster up even the faintest of grins. This is when we need something or someone to rely on to help us find our spectacular smiles! This object or individual should be your go to source to bring your spirit out of the slump you may have hit and help return world to happiness once more.

My source of happiness that helps to uncover my hidden smile is my cat Kasey. He is twelve years old and I rescued him from the ASPCA at two months old. He is definitely a unique personality! At twelve, he is still as lively as ever! He tears through the house chasing balls, twirling in circles attempting to capture his own tail, and head butts me in the morning insistent about getting treats. He always seems to sense when I am upset, refusing to leave my side, and instead flops down next to me or on me twisting himself upside down and gazing up at me eyes filled with unconditional love. It’s hard to stay sad or not smile at his cute face. He provides the extra dose of attention my soul needs at times to make me forget my worries and bring a mile wide grin to my face. One can’t help but smile as they listen to the contented rhythmic purring emitted from a cat. So when life seems to get me down I always snap my fingers, and Kasey appears within seconds to curl up next to me, a warm fluffy ball of pure heaven! Kasey helps me see that life really isn’t so bad and reminds me not to take myself too seriously! Life is short so enjoy it while you can is the message cats send. Smile, be happy!
🙂

I am beyond thrilled that my poem “Courage of a Snowflake” is now published and available to the world in the East Coast Literary Review Spring Edition 2014! There is something magical about creating a piece of writing then seeing it in front of your eyes in print! Granted I’ve has articles and writing published on websites, ezines, and blogs, there is something intrinsically different when you can hold a physical book and know that your writing played a role in causing the final result of this work of literature coming into fruition. It is an amazing experience that has no equal! 🙂

The East Coast Literary Review Spring Edition 2014 is now available for purchase on CREATESPACE (an affiliate of Amazon), and set to be released for Kindle in the new future!

My first memories I have of my first home conjure up images of well-worn hardwood floors, a cushioned chair in the shade of goldish-yellow with sturdy arm rests made of wood, a small tv set in a deep brown colored tv stand that also held books an either side, and long filmy curtains in the windows. I was two and we lived in an apartment on the second floor of a two story home. The building was owned by my grandfather.
My first home was full of life. There was me, a noisy two year old running around in shoes that echoed off of the hardwood floors, followed closely by my constant companion, our German Shepherd named Columbo, whose nails clicked and clacked on the hardwood. I couldn’t say his name correct, being only two so I settled for calling him “Bumbo” instead. There were cousins, family members, and friends coming and going in that little apartment. My dad would come home from work to crawl all over the hardwood floors with me riding proudly upon his back. Meanwhile my mom would be cooking or baking something delicious that would waft enticingly from the kitchen.

I remember the metal radiators, snake like in their coils, how they emitted such warmth throughout the little apartment. It was always nice and cozy there! I also remember the smell of the wood vanish used to clean the hardwood floors. How it seemed to take forever for it to dry, keeping me and “Bumbo” off the floors and interrupting our games of imagination.

That apartment is still around and still owned by my family. A testament to time standing still somewhat.

Hello friends and followers! I’m extremely excited to share with you the link for my author interview with Book Shelf! I’d be eternally grateful if you checked it out today or this weekend! Here’s the link:Book Shelf News
Press on the authors/services tab and scroll down to the second interview to see my smiling face lol!
I want to take this opportunity to say how much I appreciate all the support I’ve received in starting my writing company Rainbows of Happiness LLC from friends, family, and strangers who have become wonderful friends. This positive supportive energy is what keeps me going! Thank you all for accompanying me in this magnificent journey! Have a wonderful weekend all!

Happy 2014! I hope your new year has started off well and continues to be filled with wonderful moments! Since I started the Zero to Hero Challenge with WordPress to create/improve blogs the first day challenge was to introduce myself, but since this blog has been established for awhile I decided to do more of an update. The past few months leading up to 2014 have been very busy and exciting for me! I am still CEO of Rainbows of Happiness LLC where I write poetry, short stories, children’s literature, fiction, nonfiction, and self-help books, I recently became owner/moderator for the photography community Magnificent Moments Captured Through Film on Google+, was chosen as featured poet for the featured 4 section of MUTT Online by their staff, was selected to have my authored story Always In My Heart in the featured showcase gallery on awritersgallery.wordpress.com, have become a regular contributor for Smile magazine creating their cover story and articles, poetry contributor for The East Coast Literary Review Spring 2014 edition, Winter Solstice Initiative publication, and had three poems published on poetreecreations.org. I now self-host 4 blogs on various social media platforms (3 on writing, 1 on photography), have created articles on various topics including fashion, photography, education, travel, health, home decor, exercise, skin care, jewelry, and shoes which were formatted and used on websites, blogs, magazines, and ezines. My followers for this blog are just shy of 1,000 members, and I have formed connections with 1300+ people in the writing industry through LinkedIn! I can’t believe how much things have changed since starting out in Aug! I have been highlighted as an aspiring author for Idea Creations Press and have an upcoming interview with Book Shelf in Feb 2014. I received my official copyright certificate from the US Copyright Office and so this year plan to begin publishing my self-help books, and poetry compilations I had been waiting for to receive their copyright clearance. I also have in the works two completed children’s books for my children’s literature series which I drew the initial character concepts for and am currently working on a book about positive classroom management techniques as well as another self-help book. I continue to hone my photography skills daily, managing to capture some amazing scenic photographs. I have become a member of the National Association of Professional Women, Fiction Writers Guild, Poets and Writers Association, Elance Network, Creative Writers Association, Google+ Small Business Owners, Yahoo Small Business Owners, Twitter, Rebel Mouse, Writer’s Beat, MUTT Online, Facebook for Businesses, Blogger, Skyword, Headliner, and Tumblr. I participate in the weekly photo challenge on Daily Post, and the writing prompts as well, and did NaBloPoMo in November. Whew! It’s been a busy couple of months! 🙂
Here are my new sites to view my writing, photography, or posts:https://pensivewriter2013.wordpress.comhttp://www.facebook.com/rainbowsofhappiness2013http://gettingthefinalword.wordpress.comhttp://momentscapturedthroughthelens.wordpress.comhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/rainbowsofhappiness2013http://thefinalpenstroke.blogspot.comhttps://www.rebelmouse.com/rainbowsofhappiness2013/http://rainbowsofhappiness2013.tumblr.com
Yahoo- http://www.thefinalpenstroke.com
Twitter handle- Pensivewriter2013
G+ handle- rainbowsofhappiness2013

Feel free to follow me on any of these social media platforms, like my posts, or comment. If you are interested in photography professionals and amateurs are welcome to request to join my photography community on G+ Magnificent Moments Captured Through Film.

If you made it all the way to here, thank you! You are fabulous so here’s a magnificent photography piece to reward you for being so awesome!! 🙂